VIENNA, Austria, December 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — bwin, the world’s
leading online gaming company, and the Division on Addictions at the
Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School Teaching Affiliate, have
just signed an agreement for research collaboration for five years. The
research objective is to use scientific evidence to create the safest
possible online gaming environment by implementing the findings of the
world’s largest longitudinal study.

The Division on Addictions at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard
Medical School Teaching Affiliate, has been working with bwin for the last
three years setting new standards for the industry, developing and testing
empirically-supported new responsible gaming initiatives, and providing
customers with responsible gaming information and tools. This research has
just been extended for another five years. The prime research objective is to
establish a scientific evidence base that can guide the development of safe,
recreational gaming environments and prevent the emergence of gaming-related
problems as well as reduce any such problems that already exist.

“bwin has taken the industry’s leading position for corporate social
responsibility. Their commitment to the scientific process and unwillingness
to take shortcuts to achieve short-term gains is noteworthy and indicative of
its commitment to the health and welfare of its subscribers. Through its
relationship with the Division on Addictions, bwin has supported numerous
scientific inquiries, including the first ever scientific longitudinal study
of actual internet gaming behavior, numerous scientific publications, and
editorial position statements. bwin has integrated responsible gaming efforts
into its business practices and made empirically-supported self-help
resources available to its subscribers,” says Dr.
Howard Shaffer, Associate
professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Division on
Addictions.

The scientific studies analyzed the data of over 47,000 customers over a
36-month period, making it the largest longitudinal study of its kind
worldwide. Because it relies on actual customer data and not self-reported
results, the results are not influenced by customer recall or interpretation.
The intention is to expand and enhance the responsible gaming activities into
a systematic program of responsible gaming tools and applications.

“We need to understand what goes on in consumers’ minds and be able to
answer fundamental questions about online gaming based on scientific evidence
- and not based on speculation. Ultimately, we are interested in creating
behavioral models capable of predicting certain outcomes. Therefore, we are
working towards establishing the scientific foundation that will yield
algorithms capable of identifying risk patterns associated with disordered
gambling so that we can prevent them,” states
Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of bwin.